-1Chapter 12: Blue Skies for Everyone
Revan carefully eased out from under Bastila's arms. He was as much of a fool as she was. He had let this come too far and indulged too much. He looked at Bastila's unconscious form. He was selfish, selfish of Bastila and jealous of those who have the luxury to love.
He silently crept from the room and cursed to himself. He had hurt them both by letting it get this far out of hand. If the old Bastila was still there, the blunt arrogant spoiled child, she would have never let it get this far. But Bastila had changed so much.
Revan sat in the cockpit controls and made more than a few course corrections.
"It will end now." He thought to himself as he set the ship, with a few stops, to land on Malachor V. "Everything will end." And as he felt the hyperdrive kick and the mass of stars blur, he wondered to himself, how it had lasted so long.
The sound of the corridor door opening echoed through the quiet ship. Revan jumped from the chair to see a morose Bastila with tears dripping from her eyes. Revan brought his gloved hands and laid them over his mask. Bastila held her breath while Revan unlatched it. Her hand went to her face as the mask was lowered. A despairing groan escaped her lips as the burnt yellow eyes met her own.
"My promise." Revan growled. "This is it."
She grabbed the side of the bulkhead and slid to the floor.
"I was created by the Sith as a potential Sith'ari. They created me with no purpose in mind." Revan chuckled darkly. "Just to see if they could."
Bastila's eyes went glossy and her face blank.
"I don't know what I am. A freak, perhaps. And I was basking in the Jedi's overprized peace when the Mandalorians attacked. I saw… I knew what made them do those horrible things. I saw it through the force and it terrified me. But I also knew what I was. I gathered to me faithful, who would help me; and I started to heal through death."
Bastila started to shake her head and her glossy eyes closed. Revan, irritated, slammed his fist into the side of the bulkhead.
"And then you came." He seethed. "My darling and her band of fools. I slaughtered what few of you I could, but then, my own flock turned on me."
"Would you've…" A weak voice called out.
"What?" Revan's face strained to hear.
"Would you've killed me?"
His eyes boiled at the stupid question.
"Fool! I was trying to kill you! Just as you were me."
"We didn't…"
"You didn't."
Bastila slumped against the bulkhead.
"I didn't" She repeated.
"You've killed me now." He whispered to himself.
The two sat in complete silence until the thrusters on the Hawk kicked. Revan stood from the chair and looked out into space.
"Oh, look. It's your stop." At the word "stop" Revan slammed through the force and grabbed Bastila by the throat. The force pulled her into mid-air so she could see the view.
It was Coruscant.
"Hk-47, Ready the escape pod!" He yelled out.
The red droid clanked into the room.
"Yes, Master."
Revan hoisted Bastila up and held her helpless through the force. He felt her struggle only slightly. He towed her into the astrogation chamber to the storage room. HK was ready, holding open a panel that had been concealed. Past the panel was a single chair and small navigation board.
He brought Bastila's face close to his and tried to turn her head. Holding out his arms, he relinquished his force grip and embraced her in a powerful hug.
There was a second where Revan felt his plan fall apart. A shard of his mind utterly refused to do what he was about to do.
"I'm sorry." He whispered in her ear. "But…" The anger rose back into voice.
"This is where you get off!"
He pitched her into the pod and the panel slammed back. Her face was pressed against the transparasteel. Revan waved as the pod released and jetted away.
Bastila watched Revan fade and the Hawk shrink. It was over…all over… Her fist clenched, her mouth dry. Tears pooled in her eyes as she sobbed while the escape pod gently drifted to Coruscant…
HK-47 watched with delight as the little pod trickled from view. Turning it's eyes on it's master with new admiration, it's vocabulator sprung to life.
"Interrogative: Where will you go now, master?"
Revan strode past the ruddy droid to the cockpit. Readjusting the navicomputer, he sat in silence in the captain's chair. A few seconds passed until he heard the clanking of his droid's metallic feet. It stopped after it had passed the threshold.
"I am going to Malachor V." Came the cold reply. "There awaits…an old friend and perhaps," Revan watched flotsam, dust and debris float through space before the hyperdrive engaged. "…a new enemy."
He felt the thin bond, between Bastila and himself, tremble. Horrible sadness and despair floated from both ends. When an odd thing happened, such a thing that has never happened in history of the force.
The Hawk disappeared and there was nothing, merely space. Before Revan appeared Bastila, kneeling. Her hair hung untidily about her face, which was lowered.
"You are gone from me." Came the echoic voice. "I wonder now if he was the Sith'ari."
The last shred of pity and love in Revan's heart poured forth and he knelt next to her and put his hand upon her shoulder. That feeble shred grew and out of it emerged a different Revan than the one sitting unconscious in the captain's chair. It was the very soul of Revan and all that he truly was. He called out to Bastila.
"You can hear me. I am there with you."
Her face looked up in bleary confusion.
"Revan?" She sobbed. "I can hear your voice."
"The truth," He whispered. "I am Sith'ari."
She sobbed loudly in reply.
"I always was, but will not always be, nor will I be the only one."
"But why?"
"There will ever be shifts and fluxes in the system of balances, but somewhere behind the force is one who favors life over power and control. Because the devil of the force's machinations is that it wishes to utilize power and that power is often utilized to destroy life; but it is life that lends it that power. Dogma aside, there will always be a struggle to obtain the perfect balance and in that struggle the force pockets lifeforms to fight itself. These lifeforms could fit the description of the Sith'ari, but in truth they are ballasts. The amount of ballast required describes the threat. If you pay attention you will see two rising. Myself and another."
"Who else?" Came Bastila voice.
"Lungri Nasher."
Revan recalled the tall Jedi Knight with long black flowing hair and steely features. He was there with them, in nothingness, and Bastila could see him.
"I say 'the force' selected him, but in truth, he was my doing. If you should, in your travels, meet this Jedi, see that he follows me but do not make a friend of him. He is our only hope, but still he is not wholly mastered."
"You say the force did this, the force does that, what do you mean? What is the force your talking of? A god?"
Bastila heard the old Revan's chuckle.
"Not a god, Bastila. The force is nothing less than the sum of life. As if some massive freakish democracy with powers instead of funds that are invested in what it sees as important potential. It is a bi-partisan house where a mass consensus rules even though that consensus is never stable and is ever shifting from one trend to the next. No the force is far from a single sentient. Did you not notice the indecisive pattern of a senate floor in the subtleties of the Force?" Bastila slowly shook her head. "Ah, you did not wish to see it in such a light. One hates to dull a romanticized topic with realization and truth."
"Come back to Coruscant, Speak with the Masters here. They will hear wisdom and truth."
"The wisdom you speak of has thinned and is blinded. While you are falling back into their arms, you will see how, even now, they are oblivious. Goodbye Bastila, there is a chance we may see each other again."
Revan felt something snap in half as he awoke in the captain's chair. Inspecting his hand, his mind felt remarkably quiet. A noisome tear in his mind had healed. As he was about to test the assumption, he heard a klaxon sound. Red lights began to flash. He regarded them, but did not react immediately. He felt himself consumed in a stupor. Little metal clinks punctuated the klaxon.
"Warning: Master, the trash-compactor has informed me that an alien vessel is approaching us through Hyperspace. I highly doubt that it has peaceful intentions."
Revan's mind flashed with pure terror, to which he jolted upright. It was following him. Forever following him… Not ever stopping. Revan felt himself panic. He felt the muscles in his arms tense and then tense again. His mind struggled. "There is no fear there is anger!" He growled, holding his head.
The Hawk slowed out of hyperspace. Revan's eyes shot open to see Malachor V spinning sadistically beneath him like a spectator and partial judge. Rallying his courage Revan stood.
"Land this ship on it's plotted coordinates, HK With or without me."
Minutes later Revan was suited in a pressure suit and was ascending the elevator to the outside of the ship, when the entire ship jolted as if it had been struck with an asteroid.
Disregarding it, Revan opened the hatch and went outside.
The Zero G disorientation set in and caused an unwilling nausea, but as things shifted into focus, Revan saw a small thimble of a ship embedded into the Hawk's outer hull. From the ship, climbed that hideous creature. Not waiting for Fear to attack first, Revan charged, lightsaber drawn.